Mortal Kombat (Genesis Version)
There was always this thought that Nintendo was the only company to censor the original Mortal Kombat, but that was never the case. The Genesis version of Mortal Kombat was also censored, out of fear of those Congressional video game violence hearings. Sega’s MK1 had a “blood code” and without …
Mortal Kombat (Game Boy version)
If you’ve ever played Mortal Kombat and/or Nintendo’s Game Boy, then you instantly know any attempt to port this arcade classic to the small screen would be a bad idea. My first “blacklisted” game to appear on the website, Mortal Kombat sold over a million copies on the Game Boy. …
Super C
Do you like Contra? Want to play a sequel with upgraded graphics, sound, and difficulty? Then check out Super C, a game which I’d guess was the cause of many broken controllers back in the day. Holy cow this sucker is HARD… But thanks to modern technology old folks like …
Super Mario Bros. 2
Shortly after getting my Nintendo my uncle took me to Children’s Palace to buy more games for my system (since of course, I only had the Mario/Duck Hunt cartridge). He didn’t realize the cost of games when he blurted out he would get me “several” and ended up settling on …
Mortal Kombat II (Genesis version)
While Nintendo finally backpedaled on violence in video games with Mortal Kombat II, Sega maintained the status quo, albeit without the stupid “blood code” from their version of MK1. Unfortunately, as with MK1, the SNES version is a lot closer to the arcade version than on the Genesis. Yet to …
TimeSplitters
A launch title for the PS2, this was the first game I purchased for it. For those unfamiliar, TimeSplitters is a spiritual successor to Goldeneye and Perfect Dark as many of the old developers from Rare split and created their own company. The game itself is… dated. A lot of …
Nintendo World Championships
One of the rarest cartridges in circulation, I’m not even sure how this ROM exists! However, it’s such a short game to play (and requires the use of emulated cheats to get it running) but was really cool to tackle. It’s quite amazing how it’s put together and just the …
Mortal Kombat II (SNES version)
Nintendo finally backpedaled on violence in video games with Mortal Kombat II. Having a longstanding policy for being “family friendly”, Nintendo neutered the original Mortal Kombat on the Super Nintendo by replacing the blood with “sweat” and changing all of the game’s fatalities. With MK2, Nintendo left the game alone …
Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight
No joke, this is the game that is technically Street Fighter 1’s “sequel”. Capcom had created the first arcade Street Fighter and then re-badged this game for the North American market as some pseudo-sequel to that game by renaming characters and implying that Ken in this game is the same …
Mega Man 2
This almost ended up with being on my dreaded blacklist! After playing the original Mega Man, I can see how part two was a genre/series defining title. Several improvements were made to this sequel, but none more than the graphic makeover. Capcom really found a way to squeeze some life …
Mortal Kombat (SNES version)
Prepare for a deluge of fatalities and body-ripping reviews on one of my favorite series of all-time… well, at least the 2-D versions. Mortal Kombat was a trendsetting series in many aspects. Each console version has its strengths, weaknesses, and differences, plus Acclaim (who released the home versions of the …
Final Fantasy
This one is many years in the making. I finally beat Final Fantasy. I had the original cartridge for Nintendo and twice, I played through the entire game only to have it crash upon entering the final board. The only way out of it was to power off the console, …
Super Mario Bros. (All-Stars Version)
For those of you who haven’t played the SMB remakes on the SNES “Super Mario All-Stars” cartridge, these were graphically revamped games that also removed some of the bugs/glitches. The main draw is that Nintendo revamped the graphics and music. It’s odd, but I like these almost equally as much …
Sonic the Hedgehog
Having not owned Sega consoles growing up I have a new appreciation of this series. The three-button Genesis controller layout was so foreign to me and I don’t think I ever quite had enough time to sit and understand how the Sonic games worked. Going back and playing them now, …
Star Wars Episode I: Racer
I had nearly forgotten about this game if not for a recent re-release of the PC version a couple of months ago. Keep how you feel about Episode 1 to yourself: this game is not only a great racing game, it’s also a great Star Wars game! Taking advantage of …
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda is yet another in a long line of titles that have become a cornerstone series for Nintendo. The original NES title was unique and somewhat bizarre to the uninitiated. Upon opening the box, which had a vague looking shield on the cover, you’d find enclosed a …
Mega Man
Continuing the video game bucket list… I started a new series going back to the original MEGA MAN! Here’s a series that I really only know from Mega Man 2 on the NES (also a mother to beat) and the Mega Man X series on SNES. Therefore, I wanted to …
Contra
Is this game better known for being fun, difficult, or because of the Konami Code? (Which was a necessary evil when trying to beat it back in the day!) Regardless, I tend to think Contra was pretty groundbreaking. While arcade style games were all the rage, Contra took the shooter …